Prevent Devices Appearing in Other People's Home App

[pippip]

I have several devices which I can access through the Home app (a mini nest speaker, two TVs in different rooms using Chromecast dongles, some lights etc) and everything works fine. Another member of my household has recently downloaded the Home app to their phone and so they can now also 'see' all these devices and can randomly control them.

Is there a way to stop devices appearing in other people's Home app? Or are there settings which allow a master Home app on one phone to decide which devices are visible to subsidiary app users? I guess I could probably set my internet router to only give guest wifi access to other people, but I'm interested in how control could be achieved within the Home app.

My ideal situation would be everyone in the house on the same wifi, with the Home app on my phone controlling all devices but allowing some specific devices to be controlled by other selected users

[medallyon]

Yes, everyone in my home automatically has the "manager" permission. It doesn't look like I can change that, even when adding a new member, which feels very counter-intuitive. Members probably shouldn't have access to all rooms or devices by default, and be given permission.

[pippip]

Hi medallyon, thanks for the reply

When I look in the Home app at the Household tab, I'm listed as Manager but there are no other people. So just to clarify, I have never invited or added another person to join my home/household group. They simply downloaded the Home app, we are on the same wifi network, and boom they have access to control all the devices. Because they don't appear as a Household member in my app, I can't even remove them and deny them access in that way.

[MplsCustomer]

Google Nest Support: Can you please address this major security hole?

[Juni]

Hi folks,

Thanks for reaching out. All the home members have the same level of access. Our team is working hard to deliver the best experience for our users — we'll take this as feedback. Keep your eye on the Google Nest Community page for any updates. 

Please let me know if you have other questions or concerns as I will be locking this in 24 hours if I won't hear back from you again. Feel free to start a new thread and we'll be happy to help.

Check out this link on how to file feedback.

Regards,

Juni

[pippip]

H Juni

I'm the OP on this thread and I have not had a satisfactory answer so please don't lock it, I would like the thread left open. 

You say in your comment: "All the home members have the same level of access". However that's not really the problem - please note in my last reply I made it clear that, whilst I'm listed as the Home Manager, I have not invited anyone else to join as a member nor given any kind of permissions. The problem here that needs investigating is that anyone who is on the same wifi network can simply download the app and immediately have control over all devices

[Juni]

Hi there,

Got it. To prevent others on your Wi-Fi network to control your media casting, you can turn off Cast media control notifications on your Chromecast or your speaker or display. See the steps below to get there:

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Touch and hold your device's tile tap Settings Recognition & sharing.
3. Turn Let others control your cast media off.

Check out this article for more information.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Juni

[pippip]

Hi Juni

Unfortunately that doesn't work. As a CS hopefully you have a Home network yourself so perhaps you could test this too? Here's what I did:

On my Pixel phone (where I'm listed as the sole household member and Manager) I followed your instructions regarding recognition and sharing and ensured this was toggled off for each device. Then on a recently factory reset spare Android phone (with an unrelated Google account signed in) I connected to my wifi network and opened the Google Home app. At no point was there any request or granting of permissions to this Android phone/account from my Pixel phone which lists me as Manager.  On the spare Android in the Home app I can see and the two devices which are currently online - a TV (via Chromecast) and a Home Mini speaker. There is some text at the foot of the screen saying "Request invite to home". However I ignore this and tap the TV icon. this gives me another page with two  options "Request invite to home" again and "Cast my screen". I can now use this Android phone to switch on the TV and cast to it. Similarly from this Android phone I can cast audio to the Mini speaker. Also If I ask the Mini speaker to play a radio station in the usual manner (with a Hey Google command), I can subsequently change the volume or stop playback from this Android phone.

I'd be grateful if you or others could try all this on your own Home networks with a few devices and share your results. Hopefully you also have an old Android phone spare in a drawer to make it easier to test with

[Juni]

Hi there,

We hear you, This is working as intended since all your devices are connected to the same network. We appreciate people who are keen on sharing their thoughts with us. We're always looking for ways to improve. I'd suggest you submit feedback about it using the link provided in this thread.

Regards,

Juni

[Juni]

Hello there,

I just wanted to follow up to see if you still need our help. Please let us know as we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
 

Thanks,

Juni

[Dan_A]

Hi pippip,

We haven't heard from you in a while so we'll be locking this thread if there is no update within 24 hours. If you need assistance or want to discuss topics, feel free to start a new thread. 
 

Cheers,

Dan